Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Podcast Episode: July 21st 2026
Pip: Limerick just won their sixth All Ireland hurling title in a decade, and apparently the secret is wearing last season’s jerseys to the final. Mara: That is actually one of the details Brendan unpacks on Boylan Talks Sport — how the small, barely visible choices a team makes reveal exactly where their heads are.…
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Selections for Ballinrobe – July 21st 2026
4.36: BELLS GROVE (KIEREN BUCKLEY/EDDIE BUCKLEY) 5.06: SHARU (DARRAGH O’KEEFFE/HENRY DE BROMHEAD) 5.39: MAX MERIDIUS – EW – (DANNY MULLINS/TOM MULLINS) 6.09: LUREKA DE NOYER (DARRAGH O’KEEFFE/HENRY DE BROMHEAD) 6.39: FIVEONFIVE – EW – (MARK WALSH/CIAN COLLINS) 7.09: RUN FOR THE BORDER (MICHAEL KENNEALLY (5)/JOHN RYAN) 7.39: WHISKEY SERENADE – EW – (EOGHAN FINNEGAN (5)/TOMMY…
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Multiple ‘small’ things combine to construct greatness
LIMERICK…1-29 GALWAY…1-18 When you work in and around the coalface of high level sport for as long as has been privileged to be the case in this seat, you learn to spot things that the ordinary spectator might not. Small things. Or at least that’s what they’re purported to be. Though nothing could be further…
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Selections for Ballinrobe – July 20th 2026
5.10: MINNAUN VIEW (PADDY MCGETTIGAN (5)/ADO MCGUINNESS) 5.40: CONTRITE (COLIN KEANE/DERMOT WELD) 6.10: DIVINE BELIEVER – EW – (COLIN KEANE/HENRY DE BROMHEAD) 6.40: ELUSIVE DUKE (COLIN KEANE/MARK MOLLOY) 7.10: WAR ROOMS – EW – (COLIN KEANE/GERRY KEANE) 7.40: MASEGO (RORY MULLIGAN (5)/JOHN MCCONNELL) 8.10: NUIT (COLIN KEANE/HENRY DE BROMHEAD)
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You don’t need a degree to know glass houses and stones don’t mix
No secret has ever been made of the fact that there is full cognisance in this seat of the privileged position one has been in for many years to be closer to the action across a variety of sports than many have the opportunity to be. Thus sometimes stories that make headlines on a broader…
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Selections for Curragh – July 19th 2026
1.40: ABLETAI – EW – (WAYNE LORDAN/MICHAEL GRASSICK) 2.10: WHITE SAND BEACH (RYAN uy/AIDAN O’BRIEN) tu 2.40: ALPINE WEDDING – EW – (BILLY LEE/PADDY TWOMEY) 3.15: POWER BLUE (ROSSA RYAN/ROBSON DE AGUIAR) 3.50: MALLAVELLY (COLIN KEANE/GER LYONS) 4.25: ILLINOIS (RYAN MOORE/AIDAN O’BRIEN) 5.00: TRADEWINDS (GAVIN RYAN/DONNACHA O’BRIEN) 5.30: SOLNESS – EW – (JJ SLEVIN/JOSEPH O’BRIEN)
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Boylan Talks Podcast – July 18th 2026
Pip: There is a particular kind of sports fan who watches another county’s All Ireland run and thinks, quietly, that should have been us. Brendan at Boylan Talks Sport has been having that week. Mara: This episode covers two stretches of GAA territory — the retirement of one of the game’s defining players, and the…
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Selections for Curragh – July 18th 2026
1.10: ANCHOR ROAD (COLIN KEANE/GER LYONS) 1.40: VISHAYA – EW – (DYLAN B. MCMONAGLE/JOSEPH O’BRIEN) 2.15: DREAMAASAR – EW – (BILLY LOUGHNANE/ED WALKER, IN GB) 2.50: BODHI BEAR – EW – (COLIN KEANE/FOZZY STACK) 3.25: HAVANA ANNA (GAVIN RYAN/DONNACHA O’BRIEN) 4.00: CARRY THE FLAG (WAYNE LORDAN/AIDAN O’BRIEN) 4.35: SPARAN NUA – EW – (DECLAN MCDONOGH/JIM…
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A man with admirable old fashioned qualities on young shoulders
Tipperary’s sensational All Ireland MFC victory of 2011 has a spot ingrained in the memory bank of yours truly. For a start, their tilt thereat only came about after Meath were absolutely robbed by Derry referee Barry Cassidy in their quarter final tie against the Premier County in Portlaoise on the August Bank Holiday Monday…
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Selections for Down Royal – July 17th 2026
5.05: SANTORINI STORM (BEN COEN/JOHNNY MURTAGH) 5.42: BYE BYE NOW (PADDY HARNETT (5)/JOHN MCCONNELL) 6.15: CASHEL QUEEN (GAVIN RYAN/DONNACHA O’BRIEN) 6.50: CAMELOT QUEEN (WAYNE LORDAN/AIDAN O’BRIEN) 7.24: MASEGO (CONOR CUSACK (4*)/JOHN MCCONNELL) 7.59: TEOLOGIA (DYLAN B. MCMONAGLE/JOSEPH O’BRIEN) 8.30: SEA OF DUBKA (COLIN KEANE/HENRY DE BROMHEAD)
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